Tarot Cards: Tarot Illuminati by Erik C. Dunne

How much do your choices actually matter? I get asked this a lot.

Even when people don't come out and say it when they come for a tarot reading, it's quietly circling around the reading.

How much can I change? Is this my fate?

Philosophers have been arguing about this for centuries so I’m not going to pretend to have “the answer.”

But I am going to give you my take based upon my own decades of serious reflection as well as my experience of thousands of tarot readings.

Honestly, I think the answer is both. But not in equal measure in every moment.

Before I explain how I got there and what it means for your quality of life, I need to lay some groundwork. 

The world can seem like a dangerous place. Insurance will always be a booming business because of this.

And many of us, often unknowingly, look for something to give a sense of safety.

This is most often in community and family which is probably hardwired into our biology.

But there are other ways in which we look for feelings of safety.

Some look to science for hope for a better future.

Others look to traditional religion. Still others to spirituality such as Law of Attraction or “pagan” beliefs that offer some kind of predesigned world view.

And some folks, especially these days, look to politics.

Then there’s “biohacking” and other ways to feel safe.

The interesting thing is that “atheists” are just as guilty of this as “believers.” 

Important note: I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with any of these approaches in and of themselves. Or that there aren’t kernels of Truth contained within them. But they can also very easily become prisons. And we all know what can happen when ideologies become certainties.

I know that I’ve been guilty of looking for certainty. It seems completely normal. It would be wonderful to find a religion or belief or system that I could stand on and say “ok. Now I’m safe! No more unpredictability.” I’ve searched high and low for such a system and have realized no system exists. 

It’s uncomfortable to realize, but if you’re reading this, you have probably sensed this. You know that you’re just fooling yourself on some level if you say, “this is the way it is. As long as I behave in certain ways prescribed by this system, I’ll be safe and get the outcomes I want.”

Why Does This Happen?

There are certain behaviours and protocols that are much more likely to get certain results than others. 

If you floss and brush your teeth regularly you’ll have less chance of gum disease.

Regular exercise, good nutrition and sleep habits will lead to better overall health in most cases.

On the other hand, habits like excessive alcohol consumption or cigarette smoking will have negative effects upon health.

This seems to offer the proof that certain inputs lead to certain outputs.

And on a more subtle level, it’s the way our minds work. 

In order to navigate our way in the world, we need to separately label objects. An apple is not an orange, a cat is not a dog.

And this is wonderful. Thought is functioning as it should.

But here’s the thing: Life isn’t an object.

It’s a dynamic process that includes the one doing the thinking.

If you try to grab life and fix it in place, there will be a false perception or distortion at the very least.

Understandably, the ego reaches for certainty in belief systems to feel solid ground underneath its feet.

The Map Is Not the Territory

Maps are pointers of direction and facsimiles of terrain.

If you look at a map it symbolizes locations but it’s not the place itself.

Again, traditional religion, Law of Attraction, born again Christianity and yes, materialist reductionism/atheism can all be versions of manufacturing security.

Even strong identification with race or gender, nationality or what generation you are part of can be ego traps that prevent clear seeing.

But many people have used systems like traditional religion and universal spirituality as a springboard into the unknown. And I'm certain that's still happening today.

Now when I say unknown, I simply mean anything learned or known is temporarily set aside.

The paradox is, when this occurs, the subject (you) becomes identified with everything. There are no more separate objects, although an apple is still an apple.

Actually two of my major influences come from traditional religions. 

Lama Govinda was an incredible fount of wisdom bridging western culture with Tibetan Buddhism before many people from this part of the world knew much about it.

Valentin Tomberg, the “anonymous” author of Meditations On the Tarot was a devout Roman Catholic and torch bearer for Christianity, yet he still refused to budge on reincarnation.

They both went deeper into the mystery through their traditions, not away from it.

So it is definitely possible.

Truth Is Pathless

These words are attributed to another of my main influences, J. Krishnamurti. 

Krishnamurti had a different approach.

He refused every tradition, every belief, every ritual in order to arrive at the same place.

That’s no coincidence, it’s just a different door.

What These Approaches Have In Common

These people are not the only ones who have gone deep into the mystery of Being.

I mention them only because they are three of the main influences who have helped me greatly in my own searching.

Despite the seeming different paths, or non paths, they all arrived at a similar understanding.

This is because they ultimately transcended the system or non system.

Not in a performative way (because the ego loves to think it could be enlightened).

They were able to go deep into a completely higher dimension by actively surrendering and being ruthlessly honest with themselves.

This is probably the hardest part of the spiritual journey. 

It takes real courage and passion to see through your own defenses. 

Here’s My Answer

Without free will, none of it means anything. The choice to love, to grow, to show up differently than you did yesterday…if that's all just scripted, then what are we even doing here?

And yet. We are all predisposed to certain experiences in our lifetime. Not random destiny, but the stream of our own karma. The weight of the past moving forward through time. I think of this as the horizontal.

But here's the thing. The past can also be transformed. Not by going back through it, but by accessing something deeper. A vertical dimension. Presence. That's where real change becomes possible.

By pausing and noticing that you are the space in which thoughts, feelings and experiences are happening, you bring in another dimension that changes how you see things.

You are no longer trying to freeze the flowing movement of Life into place. 

Life can then support you in ways that you won’t understand from a fixed point of view.

So it's not fate versus free will. It's more like fate is the current you're swimming in, and free will is how you choose to swim.